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Photos: Liquifying human remains seen as a 'green' alternative to cremation

When a loved one dies, instead of burial or cremation what if you could wash away their remains.

It might be considered unorthodox, sacreligious or even downright weird.

But a Searsport man says he's the only one doing it in the country and he says it's more environmentally friendly.

Maine Coast Crematory performs the traditional cremation by fire. But in the back corner of the business is an unusual piece of equipment that resembles a rocket.

"We are the only low pressure, low heat, alkaline hydrolysis unit operating in the country," said Mark Riposta.

Riposta has been in the cremation business for decades and is just now using this method of liquifying human remains as an alternative to the traditional cremation.

"This process of alkaline hydrolysis is simply an accelerated natural decomposition; I couldn't define it any better than that. If you put deceased human remains in the ground and you come back in 20 years, you're going to have exactly what you have from here in 12 hours," said Riposta.

The quarter and a million dollar machine works a lot like a household appliance, using water, sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide.

After 12 hours, what's left over is almost exactly the same as what is left after a flame cremation. It resembles beach sand.

Riposta considers it a green cremation. He claims it is more environmentally friendly, and that is why he thinks it will be well-received in Maine.

Dangerous emissions are not being released into the air through chimney stacks, Riposta said.

The waste from this process goes through pipes that lead out of the building much like the sewer pipes in our homes.

"When you flush your toilet does that go into a public water? Or when you put water down a sink, does that go into a public water? No, it goes to a waste water treatment system. The two systems are completely separated," said Riposta.

He said he finds himself educating and explaining to everyone the alkaline process compared to the flame cremation.

The churches, he said, needed convincing much like they did when the traditional cremation was new.

"I said this is the same process. He was concerned that the soft tissue was being placed into the waste-treatment facility. I said father it's no different than burning somebody and putting them up the chimney. It's just a matter of perception."

Chuck Lakin and Eva Thompson stopped in to see what it was all about. He's a casket make and she is a member of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maine. Lakin says the skeptics will eventually come around.

The price for liquified cremation is just under $2,000. A traditional cremation runs about $2,400.

Riposta says he has already processed several bodies

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